HORDES of critics are falling over t hemselves to decry England's cricketers as fallen heroes.

To listen to some of them, the progress brought by the Ashes victory of last summer has been wasted already because of a drawn series at home to Sri Lanka.

I don't share that pessimism or that hostility towards Andrew Flintoff (above) and his players.

Some form of dip was inevitable after the gargantuan effor t it took to beat the Australians and the round of celebrations that followed.

Nor must it be forgotten that the current England team is missing its captain, Michael Vaughan, its first choice spinner, Ashley Giles, and Simon Jones and Steve Harmison, half our Ashes fast bowling team.

Far from fading away, my own expectation is that England will soon come back stronger than ever now that Kevin Pietersen is beginning to mature into a world class player.

To listen to some of the critics, England might as well not bother turning up to defend the Ashes in Australia in the winter.

But then that's what they were saying about our chances this time last year, too